“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” -Jesus, Matthew 7:13-14 Have you ever driven the winding mountain roads in Oregon? The pavement is treacherously narrow, with a wall of mountain on one side, and a sheer cliff (with possibly no guardrail) and plummeting forest views on the other. Driving around the corners of these roads had us holding our breath hoping we wouldn’t encounter an oncoming vehicle. Sometimes we did, and trepidatiously we would safely glide past each other.
The drive was breathtaking, both from holding in our breath to make ourselves feel smaller, and from the awe inspiring views around us.
The narrow gate that leads to life in Christ is a doorway that doesn’t accommodate the baggage of fear or bitterness, the multitude of other voices, pressures and opinions, or the self-inflated pride of mortal flesh. It all gets stripped at the door because it is only wide enough for you to enter. This pathway requires you to be single-minded, keeping your eye focused on the goal, Christ.
This way receives scorn and rejection, and is filled with process, testing and refinement, but it is a glorious path. What views, what perspectives, what victories come from humbly, trustingly depending on the single voice of the only one who successfully laid down his life to take it up again and live forever. The one who paved this road alone, the only one in history who built and became the door, who forged the footprints for the path, who filled the way with the life-giving Spirit of God.
- Laurel Vargas